diff --git a/bin/emqx b/bin/emqx
index 1a85f6fbb..1487b8940 100755
--- a/bin/emqx
+++ b/bin/emqx
@@ -123,9 +123,6 @@ fi
 # Echo to stderr on errors
 echoerr() { echo "$@" 1>&2; }
 
-# By default, use hocon to generate app.config and vm.args
-HOCON="${USE_HOCON:-yes}"
-
 SED_REPLACE="sed -i "
 case $(sed --help 2>&1) in
     *GNU*) SED_REPLACE="sed -i ";;
@@ -202,55 +199,46 @@ generate_config() {
     ## changing the config 'log.rotation.size'
     rm -rf "${RUNNER_LOG_DIR}"/*.siz
 
-    if [ "$HOCON" != "yes" ]; then
-        # Note: we have added a parameter '-vm_args' to this. It
-        # appears redundant but it is not! the erlang vm allows us to
-        # access all arguments to the erl command EXCEPT '-args_file',
-        # so in order to get access to this file location from within
-        # the vm, we need to pass it in twice.
-        CONFIG_ARGS=" -config $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/app.config -args_file $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args -vm_args $RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args "
-    else
-        EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION=""
-        if [ "${EMQX_LICENSE_CONF:-}" != "" ]; then
-            EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION="-i ${EMQX_LICENSE_CONF}"
-        fi
-
-        set +e
-        # shellcheck disable=SC2086
-        HOCON_OUTPUT="$("$ERTS_PATH"/escript "$RUNNER_ROOT_DIR"/bin/hocon -s emqx_schema -c "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR"/emqx.conf -d "$RUNNER_DATA_DIR"/configs generate)"
-        echo $HOCON_OUTPUT
-        # shellcheck disable=SC2181
-        RESULT=$?
-        set -e
-        if [ $RESULT -gt 0 ]; then
-            echo "$HOCON_OUTPUT"
-            exit $RESULT
-        fi
-        # print override from environment variables (EMQX_*)
-        echo "$HOCON_OUTPUT" | sed -e '$d'
-        CONFIG_ARGS=$(echo "$HOCON_OUTPUT" | tail -n 1)
-
-        ## Merge hocon generated *.args into the vm.args
-        HOCON_GEN_ARG_FILE=$(echo "$CONFIG_ARGS" | sed -n 's/^.*\(vm_args[[:space:]]\)//p' | awk '{print $1}')
-        TMP_ARG_FILE="$RUNNER_DATA_DIR/configs/vm.args.tmp"
-        cp "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args" "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
-        echo "" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
-        echo "-pa ${REL_DIR}/consolidated" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
-        sed '/^#/d' "$HOCON_GEN_ARG_FILE" | sed '/^$/d' | while IFS='' read -r ARG_LINE || [ -n "$ARG_LINE" ]; do
-            ARG_KEY=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{$NF="";print}')
-            ARG_VALUE=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{print $NF}')
-            TMP_ARG_VALUE=$(grep "^$ARG_KEY" "$TMP_ARG_FILE" | awk '{print $NF}')
-            if [ "$ARG_VALUE" != "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ] ; then
-                if [ -n "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ]; then
-                    sh -c "$SED_REPLACE 's/^$ARG_KEY.*$/$ARG_LINE/' $TMP_ARG_FILE"
-                else
-                    echo "$ARG_LINE" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
-                fi
-            fi
-        done
-        mv -f "$TMP_ARG_FILE" "$HOCON_GEN_ARG_FILE"
+    EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION=""
+    if [ "${EMQX_LICENSE_CONF:-}" != "" ]; then
+        EMQX_LICENSE_CONF_OPTION="-i ${EMQX_LICENSE_CONF}"
     fi
 
+    set +e
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2086
+    HOCON_OUTPUT="$("$ERTS_PATH"/escript "$RUNNER_ROOT_DIR"/bin/hocon -s emqx_schema -c "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR"/emqx.conf -d "$RUNNER_DATA_DIR"/configs generate)"
+    echo $HOCON_OUTPUT
+    # shellcheck disable=SC2181
+    RESULT=$?
+    set -e
+    if [ $RESULT -gt 0 ]; then
+        echo "$HOCON_OUTPUT"
+        exit $RESULT
+    fi
+    # print override from environment variables (EMQX_*)
+    echo "$HOCON_OUTPUT" | sed -e '$d'
+    CONFIG_ARGS=$(echo "$HOCON_OUTPUT" | tail -n 1)
+
+    ## Merge hocon generated *.args into the vm.args
+    HOCON_GEN_ARG_FILE=$(echo "$CONFIG_ARGS" | sed -n 's/^.*\(vm_args[[:space:]]\)//p' | awk '{print $1}')
+    TMP_ARG_FILE="$RUNNER_DATA_DIR/configs/vm.args.tmp"
+    cp "$RUNNER_ETC_DIR/vm.args" "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+    echo "" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+    echo "-pa ${REL_DIR}/consolidated" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+    sed '/^#/d' "$HOCON_GEN_ARG_FILE" | sed '/^$/d' | while IFS='' read -r ARG_LINE || [ -n "$ARG_LINE" ]; do
+        ARG_KEY=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{$NF="";print}')
+        ARG_VALUE=$(echo "$ARG_LINE" | awk '{print $NF}')
+        TMP_ARG_VALUE=$(grep "^$ARG_KEY" "$TMP_ARG_FILE" | awk '{print $NF}')
+        if [ "$ARG_VALUE" != "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ] ; then
+            if [ -n "$TMP_ARG_VALUE" ]; then
+                sh -c "$SED_REPLACE 's/^$ARG_KEY.*$/$ARG_LINE/' $TMP_ARG_FILE"
+            else
+                echo "$ARG_LINE" >> "$TMP_ARG_FILE"
+            fi
+        fi
+    done
+    mv -f "$TMP_ARG_FILE" "$HOCON_GEN_ARG_FILE"
+
     # shellcheck disable=SC2086
     if ! relx_nodetool chkconfig $CONFIG_ARGS; then
         echoerr "Error reading $CONFIG_ARGS"